The invention relates to a motor vehicle cooling system, with a fan that is associated with a cooler. The invention furthermore relates to a motor vehicle embodying such a cooling system.
Motor vehicle cooling systems of the general type mentioned above are already known. They contain an axial fan which is provided in order to achieve a desired cooling air throughput. Charging air fed by a turbocharger is cooled in the charging air cooler and then fed into an internal combustion engine, for example, a turbocharged diesel engine. In the coolant radiator, coolant coming from the internal combustion engine is cooled and then returned to the internal combustion engine, preferably with the formation of a closed coolant circuit. Both the charging air cooling and the coolant cooling is performed by cooling air passing through the corresponding coolant units, the axial fan being interposed downstream, in the coolant air flow direction, the units arranged in series and ahead of the internal combustion engine. By means of the axial fan the cooling air is aspirated such that it passes, as a rule, first through the charging air cooler, then through the coolant radiator, and lastly it flows out on the discharge side of the axial fan at least partially toward the engine housing (engine block of the internal combustion engine). The cooling units (charging air cooler, coolant radiator) are thus arranged one after the other in the direction of flow of the cooling air, and as a rule they are configured as cross-flow coolers. Furthermore, these cooling units are arranged at the front of the engine housing of the corresponding motor vehicle—with the axial fan interposed—and thus, as a rule, also at the front end of the vehicle.
Since the power demanded of internal combustion engines, both in passenger cars and trucks, is constantly increasing, a correspondingly more powerful cooling system must be provided in the motor vehicle. At the same time it must be considered that the space required for a cooling system of greater power cannot be expanded indefinitely, but is subject to the structural space limitations of the particular internal combustion engine design. The known motor vehicle cooling systems are disadvantageous since they have unsatisfactory efficiency and/or cannot be installed in the existing or designed motor vehicle's available space while at the same time providing the required cooling performance.